Worth The Risk
by dreamrxzxz
Summary: What if Ross and Rachel hadn't gotten caught in the hallway in TOW Monica's Thunder? Would they have gone through with it? What might have happened afterwards and how would the rest of the gang have reacted when they find out? An Alternate season 7.
1. One Good Thing

Ross notices Rachel coming out of her apartment "Wow" he notes that she is looking gorgeous in a sleek black dress ,

"Happy Monica's night!" he says.

"Well thank you, you too" she replies.

"Hey can you believe this can you believe they are actually getting married?" Rachel wonders as she thinks about how much has changed since she ran out on her own wedding.

"Well sure, but I get married all the time." He says only half joking.

She sighs at this. Ross notes the change in her demeanor. "You Okay?"

He wonders if he hurt her with his joke, after all one of those failed marriages had been to her.

Rachel is thinking about this too when she answers "Yeah … I guess it's just… do you think were ever gonna have that…?"

There is an unavoidable weight to the question and they both realize this as Ross asks "You mean we… you and me?"

"oh nononono-no we you with someone and me with someone.'' She hurries to assure him.

"You ah scared me there for a minute" he garbles.

"Shake it off" she says laughing with a sort of forced airiness.

"I mean no it's just cause you and I we were like a nightmare we were like" he does a little scream to demonstrate.

Rachel frowns at this. "No but I mean there was some good times."

"No absolutely you know like it was um…" she thinks about some of their most passionate moments and is immediately reminded of the pain she felt at their worst times.

"Surely you can think of something good" he says with a bitterness that he's not quite sure is directed entirely at her.

"Just give me a minute" she walks towards Monica and Chandler's apartment thinking about the feeling she would get when he would kiss her and the way he used to hold her.

"Oh well yes I can think of one good thing…. you were always really good at the um the stuff" she smiles at him.

"Yeah? I was good at the stuff?"

"mhmm yep I really liked your hands"

"my hands?" he says looking at them with an air of confidence.

"Way to go guys!" he says as though he's speaking to his hands as their own entity.

He looks longingly at her "you know you were really good at the stuff too."

"Oh I know." Their quite for a moment as they both remember.

Then Rachel gets an idea, "Hey you know what we never did?" she sees his quizzical and somewhat frightened look "oh no not that, we never had a bonus night"

"a what?"

"You know bonus night, when to people break up but then they get back together for just for one night." As she's explaining this they've moved closer together and have yet to break eye contact.

"One night just sex no strings attached?"

"Yeah we never had that" The silence in the hallway is heavy as they both think about what they had together in the past.

"Okay this is getting a little crazy, I mean I'm sure it would be amazing but I gotta say I really don't think it would be a good idea."

He begins to gesture his hands emphatically as he says "I really really don't" he's looking at her with a hunger in his eyes that's all too familiar. And then suddenly She's kissing him and his hands are in her hair. The feeling of his lips against her own is exquisite.

He's the first to pull away and she's sure she's made a mistake but then he says " Should we ah go back to my apartment?"

Rachel is so shocked she reacts without thinking "yes!" She takes him by the hand and as there running across the street to his apartment they both think about how reckless their being, but neither of them seem to want to think rationally.

"Joey would you go get ready please!" Monica orders as she enters the room and see's Joey in his ridiculous little 19 year old outfit. She goes to knock on Rachel's door she knocks so aggressively that the door flies open and she realizes that she's not in our room.

"She's over at our apartment" says Chandler.

"The apartment I just left to yell at people **for not being ready**?" Monica directed the last part of her question towards Joey's room.

"Yes that does sound like our apartment" Chandler quipped. They make their way back to their own apartment and find only Phoebe there.

"Oh I guess Rachel isn't here." Monica gives Chandler a withering look

"Ugh this is just so typical of her!"

"What? To not be here?" Phoebe asks.

"On my- I mean OUR special night she just has to make it all about her."

"Are you following this?" Phoebe asks Chandler.

"No, but I think its best if we just let her talk maybe eventually we can ask her to translate it from 'Monica' to normal English."

"Well I mean were all talking about Rachel on my engagement night! She's totally stealing MY THUNDER!"

"Well actually you're the only one talking about Rachel" Monica gives Phoebe a death glare that could wipe out an army.

"I think what Phoebe wanted to say was that maybe you're overthinking this…I mean Ross isn't here yet either, maybe she uh uh went over to Ross's to hurry him up… in honor of you on your engagement night." Chandler hurriedly tried to come up with an explanation to assuage the tension in the room.

"Yeah! She probably wanted to have the most efficient celebration possible. Aww she's so sweet."

"Have either of you actually _met_ Rachel?" Phoebe asked dubiously but once she saw Chandler's look she quickly added; "she is just that sweet!" They settle on the couch to wait for Ross and Rachel. After a few minutes Joey joins the rest of the gang in the living room. Twenty minutes pass and they still have not arrived, an impatient Monica gets up to call Ross.

"What is taking you guys so long? This is my special night ok and I need all of the important people in my TO SHARE IT MY HAPPINESS!"

"Wow that's a nice welcome." Says Ross as he enters followed by a meek looking Rachel. "

What took you guys so long?" Phoebe demanded

"We uh got into this stupid fight" Rachel tried to explain she hoped nobody noticed the way she was blushing profusely.

"Well none of that matters now right? We're all going to celebrate our engagement at the Plaza right sweetie?" Asked Chandler hopefully.

"Yeah Alright, but YOU" she said pointing at Rachel and then whispering quietly and sweetly "are going to have to tell me what that fight was about later okay?" She nodded as they head out the door.

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 _ **Making an attempt to revamp this story and hopefully get back to posting updates leave a review to let me know what you think of the changes if you've read the story before or if you're new let me know what you think so far.**_


	2. Not Quite There Yet

The next day after work Ross and Rachel are the only ones in the coffee house and the conversation seems inevitable.

They both start speaking over each other "Last night was…" said Ross

"We should probably…" Rachel Starts.

"You go first. " Ross said he's terrified to say what he's really thinking and maybe if she talks first he won't have to say anything and she'll let him down easy.

"I honestly don't know what to say …. I mean it was stupid and impulsive." She looks at the devastated look on his and her heart breaks she knows neither of them want the conversation to go this way otherwise they wouldn't have ended up together last night.

"But I mean since we already made the stupid and impulsive decision we might as well keep doing it right." She says hoping its light enough to not show her true feelings but sincere enough to let him know that she wants to be with him again.

"I mean obviously that would be the reasonable way of dealing with the situation." said Ross

"Although I don't think it would be a good idea to let the rest of the guys know what's going on." He added cautiously

"Yeah your right that's probably best, I mean we can just tell them we want to hang out just the two of us." she replied.

"Well I mean it is just the two of us hanging out right now." He said somewhat suggestively.

"Well then we should probably just make the best of our time!" Rachel said as she eagerly pulled him out of the coffee house towards his apartment to make more bad decisions.

It's a few days later when Rachel mentions her promotion to her Friends. Ross is ecstatic for her "God Rach this is so awesome we need to celebrate." He runs out of Chandler and Monica's apartment.

"God he's a loser why are we friends with him again?" asks Phoebe earnestly.

"It must be all his interesting dinosaur jokes." Chandler deadpanned. Rachel smiled to herself thinking about how endearing Ross' dorkiness was. "Why is he so eager anyway I thought you two were fighting?" Monica asked.

"He's probably just trying to make up for the way he acted before." Explained Rachel.

"ahhh yeah he did say some pretty mean things to the duck today." Joey said disapprovingly.

"Oh crap you guys we'd better go if were gonna catch that movie." said Chandler.

"Yeah and I've gotta get to work we've got a huge reservation tonight and everything needs to be perfect."

"Hey Mon do you mind if I hang out here while you guys are out." Asked Rachel

"Yeah sure just leave the fridge magnets the way they are this time ok?" "

but they should be…" she see's her death glare "yeah alright." Rachel is sitting in the Livingroom watching tv when Ross comes bounding in with a bottle of Champagne.

"Hey were did everybody go?"

Rachel laughs at him, "to the movies remember? And Monica's at work."

"So I guess it's just the two of us celebrating?" He fills two glasses and walks over to the couch.

"I guess so." She smiles and they clink their glasses.

"To Rachel" he says then takes a big gulp. She smiles in thanks.

"You didn't have to do anything though really… I mean it's not that big of a deal."

"Are you kidding me Rach, you've worked so hard to get to where you are. I mean I remember when you'd never even had a job. When you finally broke you're way into the fashion world, God I thought I couldn't be prouder. But you just never stopped you worked you're ass off, and I don't think you give yourself enough credit for that." Rachel was shocked by his little speech hearing it put into words like that really made her recognize all that she had persevered through.

"Gosh thanks Ross I guess I just never really felt like I was where I needed to be, you know I always felt like there was more out there that what I had. But now I'm starting to feel like I've got what I need… at least career wise. The rest of my life that's another story."

"Yeah I know what you mean It's hard when you know exactly what you want but you're just not quite there yet." He Says this while looking deeply into her eyes hoping that she get's what he's really saying. And she does but the problem is he's right. They're just not quite there yet. And she doesn't know if they ever will be, but if all they can ever have is the strange sort of in between then she'll take it because being half way there is so much better than having nothing at all. That night when there together there is a kind of heaviness to it they both try to ignore it but they feel it when they kiss and they can hear it the way the call out each other's names. It's that night when they both realize that they can't come back from this but it's also the night they realize they don't want to even if it means terrible heartache. It's funny that they both realize this at the same time and yet they refuse to admit to themselves, let alone each other for weeks.

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 ** _So to be totally honest I kind of lost interest in this story but I still had a few chapter left to post so i was going to post those but then suddenly my laptop crashed and I lost a bunch of what I had written, I tried re-writing what I had but it just wasn't coming out right. Anyway the other day i actually recovered what I had written and now I've grown inspired by this story again so my plan is to get back to it. But i have a very busy schedule these next few weeks so updates may take some time but if you leave reviews I will be very encouraged to speed up the process. Thank so much for taking the time to read this long ass authors note. All the best_**

 ** _Jill_**


	3. Family Time

The gang was sitting in the coffeehouse making plans for the weekend. "So I was thinking I could come over Saturday and we could…. Hang out for a few hours?"

"Oh that'd be great Rach its just I have ben this weekend, you could still come over though I'm sure he'd love to see you."

"Actually I'd love that Ross I haven't seen Ben in so long!" She smiled at him.

"Wait didn't you just have him yesterday?" asked Monica.

"Yeah..." he replied "but he's really been bugging Carol and Susan to see me more and I love every second I get with him so I'm not gonna turn it down."

"God ross you're so strong If I had kids I don't think I could bare to be away from them for so long" said Pheobe.

"uh Pheebs, remember when you had three children living inside of you and then you gave them to your brother?" Chandler asked sarcastically.

"Oh yeah! I guess I'm pretty strong too, much stronger than Ross at least." Pheobe teased.

Rachel laughed "You couldn't do it that's for sure" Joey said to her.

"God Rachel as a mother? How frozen over is hell?" Chandler intoned.

"What?" Rachel said with a hurt look on her face "you guys don't think I'd be a good mom?"

"no it's not that we don't think you'd take good care of a kid, it's just the idea of you willingly taking on that kind of responsibility is well….laughable." said Chandler thinking he was being helpful. Once he saw her expression though he realized. "Wait no no what I'm trying to say what I meant was that…. Monica fix this."

"Rachel you would make a great mother Chandler … and Joey just recognize that's not where you are in your life right now." Monica explained.

"Yeah I guess you're right anyway I'm late for work I'll see you later Ross?" she got up to go and Ross reached out to squeeze her hand in goodbye.

"Yeah for sure I'll tell Ben you're coming by he'll be really excited to see you." That idea cheered Rachel up slightly as she walked to work, and by the time she got to her office she was really looking forward to spending the weekend with Ross and Ben. She loved what a great father Ross was and back when they were dating the weekends he had with Ben were some of the most fun she had. So it was with a happy heart that Rachel got up early that Saturday Morning for her day with Ross and Ben. Ross was making Ben lunch when Rachel came by. "Hey rach I'm so glad you're spending the day with us" Ross said hugging her warmly.

"You don't mind me crashing your day with your daddy do you Ben?" Rachel asked apprehensively.

"No this is awesome with three people candy land is way more fun." He said jumping up and down.

"Alright Ben you go wash up for Lunch and Rachel and I will finish up in the kitchen." Sugested Ross. Rachel gave him a funny look "its sandwiches I think you can handle it."

"Oh you'd be surprised what I can mess up" she joked following him into the kitchen. "Are you still ok with this I know how little time you get with Ben I really don't want to intrude?" Rachel was already starting to feel overwhelmed and she'd hardly been there more than five minutes.

"Rachel," Ross said gently grabbing her hands in his own. "I want Ben to get to know you better Ok? You two are… some of the most important people I my life and I want you to be a part of Ben's life so he can see why you're so Important to me. Ok Rach?" she nods too overwhelmed to say anything else.

"Ok that means a lot to me Cause Rach I think tha-"Ben comes bursting into the kitchen and the two quickly step away from each other, as they had been standing so close together their noses were almost touching.

"Is lunch ready?" asked Ben clearly unaware.

"Yep!" said Ross carrying a plate of sandwiches into the living room. Rachel stood rooted to the spot until Ben grabbed her hand and pulled her into the living room

"Come on the sooner we eat the sooner we can play candy land." And that's what they did for most of the afternoon, eventually Ben got bored of that so they decided to play some cards. Rachel showed Ben a few card tricks and he returned the favor by showing Rachel how to use the PlayStation. His attempts were in vain because Rachel was hopeless at video games but Ben enjoyed this as it meant that he was constantly winning. They ordered Pizza for supper and decided to watch a movie.

Ben ended up cuddling in between Ross and Rachel on the couch. "Ben you're such a sweetie." Said Rachel squeezing him tight.

"Yeah I know I get it from my Dad" Rachel smiled looking at Ross "Yes you do."

"And I get my good looks from my mom" Ben joked.

"Alright I think that's enough out of you buddy time for bed."

"aww okay.. Hey Rachel could you read me my story tonight?" Rachel's heart melted at this.

"Of course sweetie! Let's go pick out a book." They went into the spare room that doubled as Ben's room and after some debate finally settled on a book. Ben put on his pajamas and settled into bed. Rachel began to read the story, she knew Ross was standing in the doorway watching them and at first this made her nervous but as she saw the attentive look on Ben's face she began to get more comfortable.

By the time she had finished the story Ben had drifted off to sleep, or so she had thought, as she got up from the bed she heard him quietly say "Goodnight Rachel,… I'm glad you make my Daddy so happy" she turned around quickly to see if Ross was still in the doorway but he must have gone back to the Livingroom.

"Good night Ben" she whispered gently kissing him on the forehead "he makes me really happy too." Rachel wandered back to the living room to grab her things to leave.

"Hey? Are you going already?" Ross asked.

"Well I was going to I mean I should probably head back before it gets too late."

"It's pretty late already why don't you just stay here? That way you could see Ben first thing in the morning before he has to go back to Carol and Susan's" Ross suggested hopefully.

"It would be nice to get a chance to say goodbye, I guess I could stay on the couch."

"No no no I can't let you do that I'll sleep out here you take my bed."

"Or we could both just crash in your room"

"Yeah I mean we've been doing that for weeks." Nobody mentioned the fact that they hadn't exactly been sleeping when they'd shared a bed these last few weeks. It doesn't have to mean anything they both thought to themselves and yet they both knew that they wanted it to mean something but were too afraid to admit that to each other.

"Okay yeah um.. I just don't have anything to sleep in."

"I'll find you something" Ross said walking into his bedroom he pulled out a long sleeved shirt of his. "That should fit" he said not realizing it was a shirt she used to wear all the time when they were going out.

"mhmm" Rachel agreed immediately recognizing the shirt.

Ross started to strip down to just his boxers "umm this is all I usually sleep in is that… okay"

"Yeah it's fine" she said blushing wondering why this was so awkward when for the past few weeks she'd been seeing him in much less and didn't seem to have a problem with it then. The both crawled into bed and layed there stiffly thinking that they were in for a long night however to both their shock they were asleep almost within minutes.

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 _ **Sorry for any grammatical mistakes as well as the delay in posting this update I've had trouble getting things formatted on the website and I thought that I'd already posted this. I was really excited to write Rachel and Ben hanging out but I'm not sure it turned out as well as I hoped anyway hope you like it let me know what you think in a review.**_


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